Fun Facts About the Berenstain Bears

In case you haven’t heard, "The Berenstain Bears LIVE!' are coming to Sedalia. We’re all pretty psyched about it and you should be too! To pump you up, here’s some information on the beloved children’s books that you may not have known until now.

The books were created by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Bears were selected as the stars because Stan said that female bears are “terrifyingly good mothers,” and male bears are “lousy fathers.”

Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr Seuss) was the one who handled the original manuscript of the first Berenstain Bears book. Apparently there weren’t supposed to be other books about the same characters since Geisel felt that there were too many books about bears.

Originally there was only going to be three characters: Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Brother Bear, at one point named Small Bear. Sister Bear was added in response to female readers. The fifth character, Honey Bear, was added to the series in 2000.

There have been five televised specials and two television series including the Berenstain Bears.

There have been three exhibits honoring the Berenstain Bears: One at the James A. Michener Art Musuem in Buck County, Pennsylvania, another at the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas, and a third at the National Museum of Play in Rochester.

‘The Berenstain Bears LIVE!‘ will be at the Heckart Performing Arts Center at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia on Sunday, Apr. 21, brought to you by U.S. Cellular. Tickets for the performances at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. go on sale beginning Mar. 18.